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Was it because they had a philosophy of hierarchical power that ensured the ruling class maintained rule by the utmost power, divine right, over the populace? O

by laser 9y ago

Was it because they had a philosophy of hierarchical power that ensured the ruling class maintained rule by the utmost power, divine right, over the populace? One in which all suitable ideas would be approved and any unsuitable ones taught would cause their professor to be excommunicated or worse?

ewzimm 9y ago
Fortunately that kind of abuse of power has been around for thousands of years. People have interpreted it as damage and routed around it. Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, but perpetually. Some of the most established organizations today started as grassroots responses to power imbalances.
dang 9y ago
Please don't do religious flamewars on HN. They're boring, and never lead anywhere new or good.
dredmorbius 9y ago
That's a fairly standard tactic. [T]he universities were given the task of providing an unceasing supply of ideologically correct candidates for vital positions in government, church and business. The state was able to make the faculties of the "'venerable institutions'" of higher education, or rather indoctrination, assume this duty because it controlled appointments and held the purse from which "emoluments" flowed into the coffers of academics. Hence the members of the university "hierarchy" made it their "business, the business for which they . .. [were] paid," to "uphold certain political as well as religious opinions," namely those of the "ruling powers of the state" (Mill 1981: 429: and 1988b: 350). Thus the universities pursued with vigor their assignment to inculcate in their students those political and ideological views that were cherished by the power elite. The graduates of the ancient universities were, therefore, well prepared for employment in, and by, those institutions that were instrumental in perpetuating the existing maldistribution of income. All of this might come to naught, however, if the masses of the underclass should achieve anything approaching success in potential attempts at throwing off their fetters. Hans E. Jensen, "John Stuart Mill's Theories of Wealth and Income Distribution". Review of Social Economy, Pages 491-507 | Published online: 05 Nov 2010 DOI: 10.1080/00346760110081599 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00346760110081599 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00346760110081599 Refs: Mill, J. S. (1981) Autobiography and Literary Essays. Mill, J. S. (1988b) Journals and Debating Speeches.

by laser 9y ago

ewzimm 9y ago

Fortunately that kind of abuse of power has been around for thousands of years. People have interpreted it as damage and routed around it. Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, but perpetually. Some of the most established organizations today started as grassroots responses to power imbalances.

dang 9y ago

Please don't do religious flamewars on HN. They're boring, and never lead anywhere new or good.

dredmorbius 9y ago

That's a fairly standard tactic. [T]he universities were given the task of providing an unceasing supply of ideologically correct candidates for vital positions in government, church and business. The state was able to make the faculties of the "'venerable institutions'" of higher education, or rather indoctrination, assume this duty because it controlled appointments and held the purse from which "emoluments" flowed into the coffers of academics. Hence the members of the university "hierarchy" made it their "business, the business for which they . .. [were] paid," to "uphold certain political as well as religious opinions," namely those of the "ruling powers of the state" (Mill 1981: 429: and 1988b: 350). Thus the universities pursued with vigor their assignment to inculcate in their students those political and ideological views that were cherished by the power elite. The graduates of the ancient universities were, therefore, well prepared for employment in, and by, those institutions that were instrumental in perpetuating the existing maldistribution of income. All of this might come to naught, however, if the masses of the underclass should achieve anything approaching success in potential attempts at throwing off their fetters. Hans E. Jensen, "John Stuart Mill's Theories of Wealth and Income Distribution". Review of Social Economy, Pages 491-507 | Published online: 05 Nov 2010 DOI: 10.1080/00346760110081599 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00346760110081599 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00346760110081599 Refs: Mill, J. S. (1981) Autobiography and Literary Essays. Mill, J. S. (1988b) Journals and Debating Speeches.